Notice sheet for Sunday 1st December and items for Prayer or Participation this week
(previous notice sheets available from the Parish Office)
(At St George’s unless otherwise specified)
Sundays:
8.00am The Eucharist (said service)
9.30am Parish Eucharist (this is our main service with Choir and activities for children)
11.00am The Eucharist (St Hilda’s)
6.00pm 2nd Sunday of the month – Taizé
6.00pm 3rd Sunday of the month – Choral Evensong
There is more information about the Taizé and Choral Evensong services on the MUSIC page.
Tuesdays: 8.45am, Morning Prayer; 9.30am, The Eucharist (both at St Hilda’s)
Wednesdays: Prayers for Sick and other concerns is suspended for the time being.
Thursdays: 8.45am, Morning Prayer; 9.30am, The Eucharist
We mark the seasons and festivals of the church year, enjoying the use of different liturgical colours, music, and types of service to mark each appropriately. We pay particular attention to the movement from Advent to Epiphany and then to Candlemas, and from Lent to Easter and up to Pentecost. At our weekday services we will often celebrate lesser festivals and saints’ days.
We run a programme of courses and groups at Lent, and sometimes at other times of year, to further explore these seasons & festivals.
LENT & HOLY WEEK
From early days Christians have observed the time of Our Lord’s passion and resurrection with a season of penitence and fasting. These forty days of Lent give us an opportunity, through self-examination and repentance, fasting and prayer, to remove the barriers which keep us from God. It is a time to re-evaluate priorities and put ourselves right – with our inner being, with our neighbour, with creation, and with our God. We mark the season of Lent by giving things up and taking things on. We are encouraged to meditate on God’s Word and to open ourselves to new truths. For those who are able, the church keeps Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, the Fridays of Lent as fast days. Many find the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession especially appropriate during this season.
Lent 2024 begins with Ash Wednesday, 14th February. There will be a 9.30am Eucharist with Ashing at St Hilda’s, our sister church, and a 7.30pm Eucharist with Ashing at St George’s.
Our focus during Lent will be on the psalms, with Sunday sermons focussing on a selection of psalms, and both in-person and Zoom discussion groups looking at John Bell’s book Living with the Psalms (owning a copy is not necessary to participate!). For full details, please click here to view the Lent Leaflet.
ASCENSION DAY
We celbrated Asccension Day with a Eucharist at 9.30am and a Sung Eucharist at 7.30pm.
PENTECOST
We will mark Pentecost at the 9.30am service on Sunday 19th May (please note that this will be an All-age service) and at Choral Evensong at 6pm, where our worsip will be enhanced by a string quartet.
HARVEST
Details to follow.
DEDICATION SUNDAY: OCTOBER 13TH (TBC)
In 2023 we celebrated this at 9.30am Parish Eucharist and also at 6.00pm Choral Evensong where we welcomed Right Revd. Helen-Ann Hartley, the Bishop of Newcastle, as our preacher.
ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS
All Souls of those we have loved will be remembered at a Sung Eucharist. Last year this featured music from Fauré’s Requiem. Details for 2024 to follow nearer the time.
All Saints will be celebrated at Parish Eucharist on the relevant Sunday in November, 9.30am. Please note that incense will be used at this service.
ADVENT SUNDAY: DECEMBER 1st 2024
Celebrated at all services and the Advent Procession at 6.00pm, which in 2024 will feature music by Tallis, Bach, and more.
Advent reading group: Rev. Debbie will be reading Do not be afraid by Rachel Mann, Mondays in Advent at 6pm, beginning 2nd December. Please email her if you would like to join.
CHRISTMAS
Christmas 2024 will include a Living Nativity through the streets of Jesmond, a Nativity service for the children, a Family Carol service at 6 o’clock, followed by Midnight Mass. Christmas Day begins early, with celebrations at 8am and Parish Eucharist at 9.30am in St.George’s, followed by Eucharist at St.Hilda’s at 11am. For full details, please click the link below to see the Christmas 2024 flyer.
Sermons
Download our recent Sermons here:
Malcolm Toft – 7th July 2024
Joan Grenfell – 12 May 2024
Joan Grenfell – 25 December 2023
Malcolm Toft – 17 December 2023
Malcolm Toft – 29th October 2023
Getting Involved
There are many ways in which you can become involved in Sunday services.
Bell Ringing
Bells at St George’s Church were installed in 1888 and rehung in new fittings in 1922 after being retuned. To keep them ringing we need your help! Practice nights are held on a Friday, 7.30pm to 9.00pm. We have people of all ages and abilities. Please contact John Markham bells@stgeorgesjesmond.org.uk, the tower captain, or the parish office before your visit.
Choir & Organ
Please visit our Music page to discover how to become involved in music at St George’s.
Servers
St George’s has a set of Servers, who can be of any age, who carry out an important role in the 9.30am service as Crucifer and Acolytes (Cross and candle bearers respectively). It is a very visual and active element of the service with each server robed up and participating from the chancel during the service. We currently have approximately 10 servers forming a monthly rota meaning approximately 2 services monthly for each server. Whilst the act of serving is very formal and provides a good discipline in formality and reverence, the weekly group is always a cheerful trio and find the participation in the service an enjoyable and fulfilling activity, and very different from simply sitting in the congregation. We are always on the lookout and would welcome any newcomers to the group. Please contact one of the clergy for more information.
Readings
Intercessions
Sidespeople
Teams of 3/4 Sidespeople welcome worshippers at morning services 3-4 times a year. We know that a smile and friendly hello go a long way for regular and especially for new, or returning, faces. They hand out and collect in hymn books, service books and notice sheets, administer the collection plate, and one of the team forms part of the Eucharist procession delivering the gifts for blessing. They are often ‘first on hand’ (along with the wardens) for any week on week communications, as well as unforeseen incidences during the service.
Flowers
Lifts to church
Parish Coffee
Parish Library
The Parish Library has around 800 books covering: Bible Study & theology, biographies & autobiographies, children and young people’s books, church history, literature, prayer and spirituality, the arts including art, architecture and music, the church and society. Download the Library Catalogues below and ask the office if you’d like to borrow anything.
Church Cleaning
Volunteers clean the church on (usually) the 3rd Saturday of the month, starting at 9.30 am. They swab the floors, polish the pews, clean the altar rail, and vacuum the Lady Chapel. Extra help is always very welcome!
